Sinagua Rising: A story of survival after a worldwide catastrophe

by R. G. Andersen-Wyckoff

“This kitchen has all the cooking appliances we’ll ever need, no matter how long we’re living in Duwa,” Michael said enthusiastically.

  Bishop added, “When the Forest Service purchased it they had it set up to run on electricity; I guess figuring they could either just plug into an electrical outlet or into one of their generators. It also has an emergency furnace so it can operate on solid fuels, too. I think, if we’re frugal with our gasoline we can operate the kitchen on one of our portable generators until we get our permanent kitchen facilities built in Duwa. Then, maybe Jack can rig it up to run on solar. At the worst, we’ll have to collect wood for the furnace unit.”

  “Getting wood won’t be a problem around here,” Colby said, “especially with all the damaged buildings in the Village.”

  “I agree,” Jack responded, “but I think Bishop’s idea of setting up a solar electric generating system would be a good solution. We’ll just have to get plenty of batteries for storage.”

  “How about the golf cart batteries at the two golf courses?” asked Bud.

  “See,” said Bishop, “all we need to do is state the problem and someone has a solution.”

  “So,” said Michael, having temporarily been left out of the discussion, “if we set up the field kitchen just outside one end of the Quonset, we will have our kitchen right where we need it.”

  Everyone began talking excitedly among themselves, exclaiming about their good fortune in not only having a good supply of food but a kitchen to cook it in.

  Bishop interrupted them saying, “but the best discovery was one made by the children. Under the care of Mattie, the children were playing a game of hide and seek and were told to stay out of the storage sheds, a most fortunate rule.” Bishop paused for effect and then asked Mattie to tell them what they found.

  “Behind the Disaster Relief building we found a big trailer with bathrooms,” she bubbled.

  “Let me explain it a little more,” Bishop said. “Todd and Kiera were looking for a place to hide and had run around behind the storage sheds. There’s an asphalt drive back there that runs the length of the yard between the sheds and the chain link fence. The kids spotted a large canvas covering something and ducked under it to hide from Mattie. Mattie heard them giggling and ducked under the canvas, too. The canvas was covering a trailer and on the doors it said ‘Men’ and ‘Women.’ Smart girl that she is, she immediately knew what it was and came to get me.”

  Mattie was beaming as Bishop continued. “I pulled the tarp off and found a trailer about 20 feet long with, as Mattie had seen, two doors marked for men and women. They were not locked and inside they were equipped with urinals, toilets, and sinks. I think we found our answer to bathroom facilities and all we have to do is tow it up to Duwa. Thankfully, the Rangers were upgrading their sanitary facilities for use at fire camps or disaster sites from the portable toilets in the yard to this nice, new trailer.”

  The trailer was all aluminum with a slightly rounded roof and small gutters that directed rainwater to the four corners. There was a skylight over both the men’s and women’s sides of the facilities.

  “Great,” said Bud. “I didn’t have to dig that latrine trench after all. We can connect the trailer to one of the septic tanks and we won’t need a latrine.” To that the women applauded and cheered. “But we’ll need to continue using the chemical toilets here until I can get the trailer and septic system hooked up at Duwa,” he added, to which the ladies all groaned.

  “I asked Mattie and the kids to keep the trailer as our secret until I could break the news to you at just the right time,” Bishop said. “I think this was just the right time.” And, this time everyone cheered. The idea of using a latrine, even if it had real toilet seats, was not enticing to anyone, especially in the winter.

  “And last, but not least, I think, Cole,” Bishop added, “I found a large pile of telephone poles at the far end of the yard, stacked against the fence. I don’t know why they’re there, maybe an agreement between the electric or phone companies and the Forest Service to provide them a safe place to store their extra poles. But for whatever reason, there seems to be enough poles to make all the supports we’ll need for the structures you’ll be building. They’re all at least 30 feet long, so you can cut them to size for your needs.”

  “Great,” said Colby and Tanner simultaneously.

  “Okay,” Bishop continued, “that’s the last of the surprises for now. Let’s hear what Bud has to say about his work at Duwa.”

  Bud reported that he had completed the grading work Tanner’s group had requested and dug the latrine ditch, even though they didn’t need it now, and the septic tank holes. He also dug the drainage ditch down the center of the saddle to handle any heavy rainfall. Tanner was quick to remind him that it was no longer called the saddle, but Duwa Valley. Kiera thought that was pretty neat and she puffed with pride at having been the person to start the whole Duwa thing.

  Bud apologized that he was not able to do the ramp from the Duwa Valley up onto the village site because he would have had to strip the entire valley of its topsoil to build it and it would have stretched all the way across the valley to get a grade that would have been useable. Instead, he said he had built some stacked terraces, like big stairs, about 40 yards down the east side of the saddle, and then corrected himself to say ‘Duwa Valley,’ just before you get to the tower, where part of the defensive wall has fallen down. Each step is two feet deep and has a rise of 18 inches, so with six steps you’re at the top. And the whole staircase is ten feet wide, so we can carry things to and from the village with some ease. He said he still needed to take up the last culvert so it would be on the site in case they needed it when the rains came, had graded a temporary parking lot at the north end of the valley, and cleaned up the old Sinagua cistern area so they could put Travis’ greenhouse there until his new one was built in the village. He said it would also be a good place to put the two water trailers until they got the tent village erected.

  “You have really been busy, Bud,” complimented Tanner. “It pays to know how to operate that big equipment, doesn’t it?”

  “Well,” replied Bud, “it is what it is. Now that you’ve found a restroom trailer,” he continued, “I think the best place to locate that would be against the side of the new steps, at the far end of our tent living area, and I can run the drain from the trailer across the steps, past the tower to one of the new septic tanks. I can bury a section of sewer pipe from Cole’s construction site across the steps and we can run the drain hose through that so it doesn’t get collapsed. I’ll also build up the ground the trailer sits on a bit so the drain line is definitely above the septic tank, to insure good gravity flow. Other than that,” he said, “I think we’re ready to move everything up to Duwa.”

  Melanie, Travis’ wife, indicated they needed to find some fresh water to replenish their supply, rather than wait until it became an emergency, and they would need a way to dump the motor home’s toilet waste and refill the water tank. In the meantime, they’d need to stop using the motor home’s toilet and use only the chemical toilets in the yard.

  Jack said he had an easy solution for getting the water for the motorhome once the waste tank had been dumped and Philip jumped in with an inspired solution to the potable water question. Jack told him to go first, so he did, bubbling with enthusiasm.

  “I was thinking about the water question while we were driving home from Casey’s Corner,” he said, “and suddenly it came to me. The golf course has a well that draws from the aquifer and the only reason we can’t access that water is there’s no power to run the pump. But see, there really is. We have the two big generators over there and the two from Bud’s,” he said, pointing at the DISASTER RELIEF storage shed. Any one of those will give us enough power to get the well pump working, won’t it Jack?”

  “Absolutely. Good thinking, Chappie,” he said in his most fatherly voice. “So, when we need to refill our two water trailers we have a ready source. As for the no
n-potable water, I was going to suggest we use the water from the swimming pool at the Desert Quail Inn, but with Philip’s idea I think we can get plenty of water. We were able to get all the equipment we’ll need to build our own water system on the mesa; it’ll just take some time. But time is on our side now that Philip has given us a solution to a temporary water supply. As long as we have fuel for the generator, we can get water. And I feel confident we’ll have our new water system up and running long before we run out of gasoline.”

  “Well, there’s the other idea I was thinking about.” said Philip. “If the generator provides enough power to run the water pump, it will also provide enough power to run the gas and diesel pumps at the two remaining gas stations in the Village. We had a generator at our station to run our pumps, just in case the power went out,” he said choking up. “So why not use one of our generators to do the same at the gas stations until we’ve used up all the gas and diesel in their tanks? That would give us a fairly large reserve to draw from, unless someone else gets the same idea,” he finished.

  “You’re spot on,” said Jack, enthusiastically. “It not only would provide gas for our vehicles and diesel for the backhoe and fork lift, but would enable us to run all our generators for electricity to run the kitchen, some lighting, our computers for inventory, our chargers for our battery operated devices, like the radios, and maybe most importantly, the construction equipment, and pumps for Travis’ greenhouse. That’s a brilliant idea, Philip. I think the rest of us were too focused on our other challenges to think about our survival in the mid-term. With water and fuel we’ll have time to get our long-term systems ready.” The entire group applauded Philip and some high-fived him before Bishop addressed the group.

  “Okay,” said Bishop. “I think we have a lot of work to accomplish in order to relocate to Duwa, so I suggest we hook the trailer with the tents to Bud’s truck and get them up to Duwa and get them set up.”

  “The big truck and the two trailers with all the water system equipment are too large to go up the trail,” Jack said, “so let’s park them where we left the big backhoe trailer. We can haul them up to the site on the smaller trailers later, but right now we’ll need all the able-bodied men to help set up tents.”

  “What, you don’t think we’re strong enough to help!” exclaimed Jenny, with a chuckle.

  “I didn’t mean to exclude the ladies,” Jack responded. “I meant to say able-bodied persons,” he chuckled back.

  “Well then, we all need to go up to Duwa and those who can help will, but I don’t want to leave the women and children down here unprotected. I’m sure we can find work for the children, too.”

  “Absolutely,” echoed Bud. “The kids can help put rocks in the drainage ditch to help slow the flow of water in a storm and prevent erosion. And, I’m sure we’ll find other jobs for them, as well.”

  “Okay, now that that’s settled,” Bishop said, “make sure the gate and the buildings are locked. Let’s hook up the field kitchen and the restroom trailer to Tanner’s Jeep and Colby’s truck, once he’s dropped off the water system trailer. We’ll need to locate them as we’re setting up the tents. And, let’s take up one of the water trailers so we have plenty of water available. ”

  Carly made sure that Chloe had plenty of food and water and left her in Bud’s motorhome. They all piled into the trucks and Tanner’s jeep and headed for Duwa.◘

  Chapter 18

  Transition

  That night they slept on cots under the stars; in sleeping bags or wrapped in Army Surplus blankets against the nighttime desert chill. The cots were not the old, standard issue army surplus cots, but light weight, yet sturdy, aluminum- framed cots that folded up like aluminum lawn chairs. The heavy canvas bed was attached to the frame with springs mounted every six inches around the perimeter. There were also three aluminum bands across the width of the bed to keep the bed from stretching the bedding springs too far, should a heavyweight person utilize the cot. In their group, only Bud might approach that description. In addition, there were padded covers that extended the entire perimeter of the bed and covered the springs to protect against someone getting pinched in the expanding and contracting springs. These were first-class cots and quite comfortable.

  The cots were fanned out around the periphery of the motor home, unintentionally clustered in family groups, except for the four youngest children who luxuriated in the comfortable beds in the motor home. Jessie, her brother and sister, having no ties to any of the families, set up their cots on the fringe of the others until invited by Celeste Lloyd to join their family. Though unintentional, this invitation had been received by Philip and Jessie with special appreciation. A relationship, it seemed, was smoldering just below the surface between these two.

  Though there were, to be sure, stars to be seen above them, a clear view of the heavens was not possible due to the continued aurora borealis that shimmered above the thin veil of smoke riding on the south wind blowing up from Phoenix. A slight odor from the chemical toilets also rode on that wind. Only by looking toward the eastern sky could you periodically see the bands of the Milky Way.

  The afternoon had been one of accomplishment and frustration as their attempt to erect the large tents was met by one setback after another. None of them had had any experience setting up large tent structures like these, the most obstinate being the large ‘lunch tent,’ which they had determined should be the first to be erected and would anchor the rest of the tent village. As the tent package was rolled off the trailer in the place they determined it should be, about 25 feet from the north end of the wall and some 20 feet off the wall, allowing plenty of room for the field kitchen and to move between the kitchen and the wall, someone ripped off the plastic packaging and threw it to the side.

  It was unwieldy, because of its large size, and took several men to unroll it,

  so it faced east and west across the valley. A short conference between the men had determined that the entrances to the tents should not be facing north or south, in order to avoid the winds that sometimes whipped down the mesa and down Duwa Valley.

  The men, none of the women were involved at this point, all knew what the end result of the erected tent should look like, but none could seem to agree on the steps required to get there. A small argument ensued until finally Jason, who had gone back up to the trailer, returned and said, “Will this help?” He held up a plastic wrapped booklet that read, INSTRUCTIONS FOR ERECTING THE LUNCH TENT. There was a momentary silence and then all starting laughing. The laughter grew as they realized how foolish they all looked. Even Jason joined in as Bishop slapped him on the back and said, “Well done, Jase, I think you saved the day!”

  “I just figured that if setting up the tent was so difficult y’all couldn’t figure it out then there must be instructions. They were in the plastic wrap that had been ripped off the tent when we rolled it off the trailer,” Jason responded, pleased that he again had shown he was part of the ‘adult’ group.

  It still took them another two hours to erect the tent but when it was up it was everything they had hoped it would be. Using Tanner’s Jeep they moved the field kitchen adjacent to the east end of the lunch tent, still leaving about ten feet between it and the wall. They were justly proud of their work and celebrated by taking a well-deserved break.

  During the break they discussed where the other tents should be located, using two of the large tents on the north side of the lunch tent, to protect it from the north wind in the winter, and the others in twos south of the lunch tent. Tanner, who had spent the most time camping and exploring the Tuwalanki ruins in the past, knew that the north wind could be quite fierce during the winter and the sides of the tents should be used to buffer the wind. He suggested that an alley, wide enough for his jeep, be left between the east end of the tents and the outcropping wall, as they had with the lunch tent, to provide a protected pathway between the tents that could be covered later. “By setting up two tents end to end,” he said, “we cut
down the number of access points to the tents. During good weather we can enter from either end, but during bad weather we should enter only from the alley, and maybe we can find some way to cover it. We can experiment with the first two tents, which I recommend we use for our equipment storage tents, and then use the tents south of the lunch tent for our living quarters,” he concluded.

  “We should move the restroom trailer into place before we get all the tents south of the lunch tent up,” Bud suggested, “otherwise we’ll be risking knocking down tent stakes or worse,” he added. “Oh, and I recommend we read the instructions on how to set up the other tents before we get started,” he chortled.

  “While we’re talking about where to set up tents,” Travis interjected, “we need to rethink where we’re going to put my greenhouse. Putting it in the old cistern area just won’t work, for the same reason you want to put some buffer tents up—there’s too much cold wind that will blow down from the north. Also, I’d prefer not to have to take it apart again to relocate it later.”

  “I see what you’re saying,” responded Tanner. “How about we put it in the southeast corner of the pueblo, at the end of the large plaza, near the small entranceway. There’s no housing there and we can adjust it to the terrain. And, we won’t have to move it again.”

  “That works for me,” answered Travis. “Thanks.”

  “Well,” said Bishop, “I think we’d better get to it. Those tents won’t set themselves up.”

  “Just a minute,” Michael interjected. “I’ve been thinking about food storage and I think we should set up one of the smaller tents adjacent to the lunch tent so it’s accessible from the field kitchen.”

  “Good idea,” Bishop said. “And we should probably put the First Aid tent right next to it. That way it will be central to the village and close to the field kitchen for hot water. Both of those tents will be easier to put up because, like the lunch tent, they have aluminum frames. Okay, any more suggestions? Then let’s get to it.”